RLD MP Anuradha Chowdhury today denied charges that the Mulayam Singh government had created the Irrigation Development and Flood Control Commission only to accommodate her. ‘‘I am well versed with the department since I have been the Minister for Irrigation for one year and a half,’’ she told The Indian Express. On Wednesday, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had made her chairperson of the panel, according her Cabinet status.Talking to Express from Delhi on phone, Chowdhury said: ‘‘If becoming a minister or holding a post equivalent to a minister was my intention then I would have contested the bypolls once again and I would have won.’’ She also clarified that functioning of this panel would not overlap with that of the Flood Control Board, ‘‘The board and the panel will work in accordance with each other.’’The Mulayam Cabinet had decided to set up the panel on Tuesday. The aim, the government said, was to work for the conservation of ground water, participation of farmers in irrigation management and flood control projects, construction of tubewells and internal water transport systems, besides generation of extra revenue. But the setting up of the Commission only led to speculation that it was formed only to accommodate RLD ally, Anuradha Chowdhary, in the Cabinet.
